Automobile top-holder.



J. PARKIN'SON.'` AUTOMOBILE ATOP HOLDER. Y PPLIoATIoNvrILED MAY 12,1908.

Ptentea May 2,1911.

.z sHnETs-sHBET 1.

J. 'PARKINSON AUTOMOBILE TOP HOLDER.

. APPLICATION FILED MAY 12, 1908. Y 991, 1 67. Patented May 2,1911.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

nutren srafrasrarnnr carros.

JOHN Panxrnsom or Los ANGELES, canroama.

simple and effective means forsecurely holding the frame work of vehicletops.

invention is designed for use on au tomololles'l f or the purpose ofholding the ",frame work of the top. of such vehicle to i chine.

prevent the same from rattling, racking or becoming deranged and brokenor injured from thejar ofthe rapidly traveling ma- `The invention may beused for securing 3. f the v,tops of other forms of vehicle.

.y The invention maybe' embodied in various forms and I do not `limitthe same to `any specific form of embodiment.

The acco anying drawings illustrate some .of the orms in which thevinvention Figure l is a-viewot an appliancezembodying the invention inuse on van automobile, a fragment of which is shown. Fig. 2 is anenlarged view of one form of the'in-y vention in use, the ribs of thevehicle top are: shown in section. In this :torni the clamping isaccomplished by a nut. Fig. 3 is adetail of the formshown .in Figs. 1and 2, looking rearward-in Fig. 1, and tothe left in'Fig. 2. Fragmentsof the ribs are shown. Figs. 45, 6, 7 andgS are top, bottom, rear,side-and front views of a detached clip of the form arranged-intermediately in l, 2 and 8. Fig. 9 is a fragmental view of a and 13/looking to the right.

construction similar to that shown in the previous views excepting thatthe guide pro jects downwardly instead of upwardly from the bracket thatconnects the clip holder orguide with the vehicle body. Fig. .lO'showstheI top-holder of the styleshown 1n Fig. 2 collapsed,'when not in use.Fig. 11 is an elevation of another form of top holder in` use. I n thisform the clamping is accom-V plished by a cam. Fig. 12 is acollapsedview of the form shown in F ig. 11. Fig. 153 .is a plan insection on line 0:13, Fig. 11z Fig. 14 is a vertical section on line ai,Figs. v11 Figpl lis a view of another form in use. l

Like characters designate 'corresponding parts in the several views,.thevsame being A.Specification of' Letters Patent.

AUTOMOBILE TOP-HOLDER.

Patented May 2, 19H.

Application led' May 12, 1908. Serial No. 432,542.

a accompanied by indices in someof the views to distinguish differentforms. 1l deslgnates a clip holder or guide rigidly secured to thevehicle body o, by suitable 50 means as a bracket arm 2 swiveled in asocket- 3 fastened to the vehicle body b. The arm 2 is provided with ashoulder c and nuts @Z between which the socket is clamped to hold thearm 2 rigidly in place. 65

4 is a set screw adjustably lixing the clip holder to the bracket 2.

'5 designates relatively movable clips carried by the guide orclipholder l and adapted to receive between them the ribs 6 frame of thevvehicle top 7. Means are provided to clamp said clipstogetherand to fixthe clips relative tol the guide or clip bolder A1. In Figs. 2 and 3 theclip holder or guide is a rod provided with a screwthreaded por- 75 tion8 on which a nut 9 is screwed to clamp the clips together when the ribsare interposed as shown in Figs. 2 and 3. V'Vhen the cllps are clampedtogether by the'clamping means 9 as shown in said figures, the ribs 6 80are held firmly and rigidly relative to each .other on the vehicle bodyb thus preventing racking, rattling, or injury to themselves. Theintermediate, clips 5 being interposed between the ribs 6 hold said ribsspaced 85 apart to accommodate the folds of the topl cover l0, thusavoiding the'liability of cracking, crushing, creasing, abrading orother wise `marring or injuring the same.

The intermediate clips 5 are reversely eqn- 9g cave so as to fit theconvex sides of the rib; 6 and the top and bottom clips are concave onthe faces that are opposed to each other. The opposed fconcavities ofthe clips tit upon the edges of the ribs 6 so as toprevent rattling 95whenthe clips'are tightened. Thebracket arm 2 is provided with arectangular `projection 2 upon which thelower clip 5 is fixed 4by theset screw t. The clip holder rod 1 is fixed to the -clip 5 andthe nter-410o` mediate clips 5 between the lower 'clip 5 `and thetop clip 5 areadapted by reason of their opposed concave faces to iit the edges of theribs 6 lof the vehicle top and prevent them from rattling or wearing.

' When it is desired to'raise the top, all that is necessary is simplyto loosen the nuts 9 sufliciently to allow the upprmost clip 5 tobeelevated from and swung out of the way'of-the uppermost rib 6 whichmay then. 11o

in turn be elevated ,to allow the next intermediate clip 5 to beelevated froml the next of the onebeing concave and the other conve-xsol as to nest together to prevent the clips from swinging around oneach .other when in their collapsed position shown in Fig. 10.

In the for'm shown in Figs 11, 12,13, 111, the guide 13 is provided witha vertical retaining slot 14 and the clips are providedwith a headedstem 15 to slide in said slot. In the form shown in Figs. 11, 12, 13 and14 a cam 16 is pivoted to a block 17 that is mounted in the slot lt'andis adapted to slide up and down in said slot and is pro-- vided with aserrated face 18 to engage-a serrated face 19 of the slot 14,. The cam16 is provided with a segmental portion d, adapted to hold said face inVengagement (o.

prevent the block 17 from sliding along thc.

slot 14 while said cam is forcing and holding the clips into and in saidclampedposition.

In the form shown in Fig. 15 the guide 1 is a rod bent into U-shapeandthe clips 53 are adapted to slide up and down on the U-shaped rod and tobe removed therefrom in succession to release the ribs and to bereplaced in like succession. The' cam 16 similar to that shown in Fig.11 and similarly mountedlmay be employed to clamp the clips together.

In order that the clips may conform to the various angles of the ribs 6,said clips may be loosely mounted as by making the sockets 2O downwardlyHaring, laterally,

`thus being elongated at the lower end, or

by making the stems rounding as shown at Q1 in Fig. 14.'

what claim is:-

1. A top holder for vehicles comprising a socket adapted for attachmentto a vehicle body, a bracket arm provided with a rectangular extensionand al'so provided vwith a shoulder and -with nuts and thereby held inthe socket, a clip, a clip-holder fixed thereto, said clip being xed tothe arm' of the bracket and having a concave face to fit a rib of thevehicle top, intermediate concave faced clips and an end concave facedclip,

the concave faces of said clips being' opposed to receive the convexedges of the ribs of the vehicle top, one limb of said concavefacewbeing adapted to interlock with the corresponding limb of theadjacent clip, and ratchet means to hold the clips in adjustment.

2. A. top holder for vehicles'comprising a socket adapted for attachmentto a vehiclebody, a bracket arm provided with a rectangular extensionand also provided with a shoulder and with nuts and thereby held in thesocket, a clip, a clip-holder fixed thereto, said clip being fixed tothe arm of the bracketand having a concave face to fit a rib of thevehicle top, intermediate concave faced clips and an end. concave facedclip, the concave faces of said clips being opposed to receive theconvex edges 0f the ribs of the vehicle top; one limb of said concavekface being adapted to interlock with the corresponding limb -of theadjacent clip., and

me i hold the clips in adjustmentx In testimony' whereof, I havehereunto set my hand at Los Angeles, California, this 41th day of May,1908.

Jer-nv rARxrNsoN.

In presence of- Jaarns It. 'I0wNsEND, M. BEULAH TowNsEND.

